Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 76 / Friday, April 20, 2007 / Notices 19931 

1The comment must be accompanied by an 

explicit request for confidential treatment, 

including the factual and legal basis for the request, 

and must identify the specific portions of the 

comment to be withheld from the public record. 

The request will be granted or denied by the 

Commission’s General Counsel, consistent with 

applicable law and the public interest. See 

Commission Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c). 

1. Palm Bancorp, Inc., Tampa, 

Florida; to become a bank holding 

company by acquiring 100 percent of 

the voting shares of The Palm Bank, 

Tampa, Florida. 

B. Federal Reserve Bank of 

Minneapolis (Jacqueline G. King, 

Community Affairs Officer) 90 

Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, 

Minnesota 55480-0291: 

1. First American Investment, Inc., 

Lake Elmo, Minnesota; to become a 

bank holding company by acquiring 100 

percent of the voting shares of First 

American Bank, National Association, 

Hudson, Wisconsin (in organization). 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, April 17, 2007. 

Robert deV. Frierson, 

Deputy Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. E7–7537 Filed 4–19–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–S 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

[File No. 071 0063] 

Actavis Group hf. and Abrika 

Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Analysis of 

Agreement Containing Consent Order 

To Aid Public Comment 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement. 

SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this 

matter settles alleged violations of 

federal law prohibiting unfair or 

deceptive acts or practices or unfair 

methods of competition. The attached 

Analysis To Aid Public Comment 

describes both the allegations in the 

draft complaint and the terms of the 

consent order—embodied in the consent 

agreement—that would settle these 

allegations. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before May 14, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are 

invited to submit written comments. 

Comments should refer to ‘‘Actavis 

Group, et al., File No. 071 0063,’’ to 

facilitate the organization of comments. 

A comment filed in paper form should 

include this reference both in the text 

and on the envelope, and should be 

mailed or delivered to the following 

address: Federal Trade Commission/ 

Office of the Secretary, Room 135–H, 

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20580. Comments 

containing confidential material must be 

filed in paper form, must be clearly 

labeled ‘‘Confidential,’’ and must 

comply with Commission Rule 4.9(c). 

16 CFR 4.9(c) (2005).1 The FTC is 

requesting that any comment filed in 

paper form be sent by courier or 

overnight service, if possible, because 

U.S. postal mail in the Washington area 

and at the Commission is subject to 

delay due to heightened security 

precautions. Comments that do not 

contain any nonpublic information may 

instead be filed in electronic form as 

part of or as an attachment to email 

messages directed to the following email box: consentagreement@ftc.gov. 

The FTC Act and other laws the 

Commission administers permit the 

collection of public comments to 

consider and use in this proceeding as 

appropriate. All timely and responsive 

public comments, whether filed in 

paper or electronic form, will be 

considered by the Commission, and will 

be available to the public on the FTC 

Web site, to the extent practicable, at 

http://www.ftc.gov. As a matter of 

discretion, the FTC makes every effort to 

remove home contact information for 

individuals from the public comments it 

receives before placing those comments 

on the FTC Web site. More information, 

including routine uses permitted by the 

Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC’s 

privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ 

ftc/privacy.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kari 

Wallace, (202) 326–3085, Bureau of 

Competition, Room NJ–5108, 600 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20580. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to section 6(f) of the Federal Trade 

Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C. 

46(f), and § 2.34 of the Commission 

Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is 

hereby given that the above-captioned 

consent agreement containing a consent 

order to cease and desist, having been 

filed with and accepted, subject to final 

approval, by the Commission, has been 

placed on the public record for a period 

of thirty (30) days. The following 

Analysis To Aid Public Comment 

describes the terms of the consent 

agreement, and the allegations in the 

complaint. An electronic copy of the 

full text of the consent agreement 

package can be obtained from the FTC 

Home Page (for April 16, 2007), on the 

World Wide Web, at http://www.ftc.gov/ 

os/2007/04/index.htm. A paper copy 

can be obtained from the FTC Public 

Reference Room, Room 130–H, 600 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20580, either in person 

or by calling (202) 326–2222. 

Public comments are invited, and may 

be filed with the Commission in either 

paper or electronic form. All comments 

should be filed as prescribed in the 

ADDRESSES section above, and must be 

received on or before the date specified 

in the DATES section. 

Analysis of Agreement Containing 

Consent Order To Aid Public Comment 

The Federal Trade Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) has accepted, subject to 

final approval, an Agreement 

Containing Consent Order (‘‘Consent 

Agreement’’) from Actavis Group hf. 

(‘‘Actavis’’), which is designed to 

remedy the anticompetitive effects of 

the acquisition of Abrika 

Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (‘‘Abrika’’) by 

Actavis. Under the terms of the 

proposed Consent Agreement, the 

company would be required to assign 

and divest the Abrika rights and assets 

necessary to manufacture and market 

generic isradipine capsules to Cobalt 

Laboratories, Inc. (‘‘Cobalt’’), the U.S. 

subsidiary of Arrow Group. 

The proposed Consent Agreement has 

been placed on the public record for 

thirty (30) days for receipt of comments 

by interested persons. Comments 

received during this period will become 

part of the public record. After thirty 

(30) days, the Commission will again 

review the proposed Consent Agreement 

and the comments received, and will 

decide whether it should withdraw from 

the proposed Consent Agreement, 

modify it, or make final the Decision 

and Order (‘‘Order’’). 

Pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of 

Merger executed on November 20, 2006, 

Actavis proposes to acquire all of the 

voting securities of Abrika for $235 

million. The Commission’s Complaint 

alleges that the proposed acquisition, if 

consummated, would violate Section 7 

of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 

U.S.C. 18, and Section 5 of the Federal 

Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 

U.S.C. 45, by lessening competition in 

the U.S. markets for the manufacture 

and sale of generic isradipine capsules. 

The proposed Consent Agreement will 

remedy the alleged violation by 

replacing the lost competition that 

would result from the acquisition in this 

market. 

Actavis is a leading developer, 

manufacturer, marketer, and distributor 

of generic pharmaceutical drugs. 

Headquartered in Iceland, Actavis sells 

generic pharmaceuticals in over 30 

countries and has manufacturing 

facilities in Europe, the United States, 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
19932 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 76 / Friday, April 20, 2007 / Notices 

and Asia. Abrika is a Sunrise, Florida 

based specialty generic pharmaceutical 

company engaged in the formulation 

and commercialization of both 

controlled release and immediate 

release products. 

Generic Isradipine Capsules 

Isradipine belongs to a group of drugs 

known as calcium channel blockers. 

Calcium is involved in blood vessel 

contraction, and by blocking calcium, 

isradipine relaxes and widens the blood 

vessels, thereby lowering blood 

pressure, preventing spasms of the 

blood vessels of the heart and reducing 

the oxygen needs of the heart muscle. 

Isradipine is typically prescribed to 

patients as a blood pressure lowering 

medication, and is also used to treat 

hypertension, ischemia and depression. 

Generic isradipine was first introduced 

in the United States in 2006. Sales in 

that year totaled approximately 

$3 million. 

Actavis and Abrika are the only two 

companies selling generic isradipine 

capsules in the United States. The 

number of generic suppliers has a direct 

and substantial effect on generic pricing, 

as each additional generic supplier can 

have a competitive impact on the 

market. Because there are multiple 

generic equivalents for isradipine 

capsules, the branded version no longer 

significantly constrains the generic’s 

pricing. 

Entry into the market for the 

manufacture and sale of generic 

isradipine capsules would not be 

timely, likely, or sufficient in its 

magnitude, character, and scope to deter 

or counteract the anticompetitive effects 

of the acquisition. Entry would not take 

place in a timely manner because the 

combination of generic drug 

development times and FDA drug 

approval requirements takes at least two 

years. Entry would not be likely because 

the relevant market is relatively small 

and in decline, limiting sales 

opportunities for any new entrant. 

The proposed acquisition would 

cause significant anticompetitive harm 

to consumers in the U.S. market for the 

manufacture and sale of generic 

isradipine capsules. The acquisition 

would eliminate Abrika as a competitor 

and create a monopoly in the market for 

the manufacture and sale of generic 

isradipine capsules. The evidence 

indicates that the presence of more than 

one competitor allows customers to 

negotiate lower prices and that the 

reduction in the number of competitors 

in this market would allow the merged 

entity to unilaterally exercise market 

power with a resulting increase in 

prices. 

The Consent Agreement 

The proposed Consent Agreement 

effectively remedies the proposed 

acquisition’s anticompetitive effects in 

the relevant product market. Pursuant to 

the Consent Agreement, Actavis and 

Abrika are required to divest certain 

rights and assets related to the generic 

isradipine capsules to a Commissionapproved acquirer no later than ten (10) 

days after the acquisition. Specifically, 

the proposed Consent Agreement 

requires that Abrika divest its rights and 

assets relating to generic isradipine 

capsules to Cobalt. 

The acquirer of the divested assets 

must receive the prior approval of the 

Commission. The Commission’s goal in 

evaluating a possible purchaser of 

divested assets is to maintain the 

competitive environment that existed 

prior to the acquisition. A proposed 

acquirer of divested assets must not 

itself present competitive problems. 

Cobalt, which specializes in the sale 

and marketing of generic 

pharmaceuticals, is the United States 

arm of the Arrow Group, a private 

multinational that employs over 700 

individuals. The Arrow Group has 

experience in the development, 

manufacturing, and sale of 

pharmaceuticals and has production 

facilities in Canada, Malta, Australia 

and Brazil. Cobalt is an acceptable 

acquirer of generic isradipine because it 

has experience in distributing and 

marketing generic pharmaceutical 

products in the United States. Currently, 

the company has received FDA approval 

for the sale of nine generic products. 

The acquisition by Cobalt does not 

present a competitive problem in the 

generic isradipine market because 

Cobalt currently does not participate in 

the market and has no independent 

plans to enter. With its resources, sales 

and marketing capabilities, and 

experience with generic products, 

Cobalt should be successful in restoring 

the competition that would be lost if the 

proposed Actavis/Abrika transaction 

were to proceed unremedied. 

If the Commission determines that 

Cobalt is not an acceptable acquirer of 

the assets to be divested, or that the 

manner of the divestitures to Cobalt is 

not acceptable, the parties must unwind 

the sale and divest the assets within six 

(6) months of the date the Order 

becomes final to another Commissionapproved acquirer. If the parties fail to 

divest within six (6) months, the 

Commission may appoint a trustee to 

divest the generic isradipine capsule 

assets. 

The proposed remedy contains 

provisions to ensure that the 

divestitures are successful. Abrika’s 

isradipine product is manufactured for 

Abrika by a third-party manufacturer. 

As part of the divestiture, Abrika will 

transfer its supply arrangement to 

Cobalt. Actavis and Abrika will transfer 

all confidential business information 

related to Abrika’s isradipine product to 

Cobalt. Finally, Actavis and Abrika will 

provide technical assistance to Cobalt to 

allow it to manufacture isradipine in 

substantially the same manner and 

quality employed or achieved by 

Abrika. 

The Commission has appointed 

Denise F. Smart of Smart Consulting 

Group, LLC as the Interim Monitor to 

oversee the asset transfer and to ensure 

Actavis and Abrika’s compliance with 

all of the provisions of the proposed 

Consent Agreement. Ms. Smart has over 

twenty years of experience in the 

pharmaceutical industry. Her 

experience includes providing 

consulting services in healthcare 

business development and regulatory 

compliance to major pharmaceutical 

companies, biotechnology companies 

and medical device companies. In order 

to ensure that the Commission remains 

informed about the status of the 

proposed divestitures and the transfers 

of assets, the proposed Consent 

Agreement requires Actavis and Abrika 

to file reports with the Commission 

periodically until the divestitures and 

transfers are accomplished. 

The purpose of this analysis is to 

facilitate public comment on the 

proposed Consent Agreement, and it is 

not intended to constitute an official 

interpretation of the proposed Order or 

to modify its terms in any way. 

By direction of the Commission. 

Donald S. Clark, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–7478 Filed 4–19–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

Disease, Disability, and Injury 

Prevention and Control Special 

Emphasis Panel (SEP): Health 

Promotion and Disease Prevention 

Research Centers, Special Interest 

Project Competitive Supplements 

(Panels 5–6), Request for Applications 

(RFA) DP07–002 

In accordance with Section 10(a)(2) of 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463), the Centers for Disease 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES